Treasure Among Treasure
by angelic13demon
Summary: Many men would die, or kill others for treasure...unspoken riches can drive people mad and make them do the unspeakable. However, the treasure itself may not be what they think. Just let us see, shall we? Do you want the treasure or something so much more
1. Character Information

Character Information

Name: Elizabeth Knight

Age: 23

Looks: Dark red waist length hair, light blue eyes, pale skin with numerous freckles sprinkled across it, short in height, small body build

Specialty: History, conspiracies, mythology, and human mind and behavior

Job: First grade teacher in Washington D.C.

Background: The Knight and Gates families have been friends for as long as can be remembered, leading to Elizabeth and Ben's close relationship. Due to the four year age difference, Ben has always seen and treated her as if she was his younger sister. Over the years, Elizabeth adored legend that Ben's grandfather told of the wondrous treasure hidden by the Founding Fathers and has helped Ben every chance she had, but has slowly been losing faith in the treasure she was told of oh so many years ago.


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

"Joshua, would you please not pull Maya's hair?" Elizabeth asked, calmly looking up from her book after hearing the young girl squeal.

The young boy quickly turned to stare at his teacher with large, clear, innocent blue eyes. After a few seconds of him just staring at her with his hands still clinging to the crying Maya's pigtail, Elizabeth simply raised her left eyebrow, daring Joshua to defy her.

Joshua blinked slowly before finally releasing his classmate's hair and running over to the other boys who were tossing a ball amongst themselves.

Elizabeth sighed, gently laying her book down beside her on the bench. "Maya, sweetie, come here so I can fix your pigtail."

The young girl rushed over smiling brightly at her teacher, her previous tears forgotten. Maya hopped in front of Elizabeth, letting her tighten the abused pigtail. "Thank you, Miss Knight," she said, her grin growing before skipping back to her friends playing hopscotch.

As Elizabeth watched the two groups of children play, she couldn't help but let a few quiet chuckles escape her lips. They were so innocent and naïve. They didn't have a single care or worry in the world. The whole situation had a strong sense of similarity to it that left her practically speechless.

"Well, if that wasn't déjà vu then I don't know what is," a strong, male voice commented from behind Elizabeth.

She instantly jumped up, whirling around in a state of shock to see exactly who had intruded on her thoughts. Now what she saw _**did**_ render Elizabeth speechless. They stood there for a few seconds, just staring at one another before Elizabeth finally broke the silence by mumbling a single name…his name to be exact.

"Ben…" The simple name left her lips sounding like a mere breath.

The man in question gave her a small smile while raising his arms slightly. "What? No hug, Liz?"

That was all he needed to say to send Elizabeth soaring into her friend's arms with a large ecstatic smile playing on her lips. After a few moments of tightly embracing him, she forced her grip on him enough to look up into his tired eyes and ask the question that plagued her mind. "Why?"

Ben blinked, trying to copy Elizabeth's student's innocent look as her question reached his ears over the sound of children at play. "I don't know what you mean, Liz."

She huffed in annoyance, releasing her childhood friend as she crossed her arms across her chest tightly. "Ben," Elizabeth warned. "I've known you since I was born and I wasn't born yesterday, honey. I would have to be incredibly stupid to not know that you always have some ulterior motive for anything you do, including visiting your little sister."

Ben instantly dropped his faux look of innocence and held up his hands in defense as a sign that he surrendered before his smile dropped into that oh so familiar frown of his. "You might want to sit down for this, Liz."

Elizabeth's forehead instantly creased in confusion before her eyes shot open wider then they had been in years giving her the appearance of a doe caught in a car's headlights. "Aw, crap! Don't tell me Uncle Patrick died!"

Her best friend gently pushed her back onto the bench she had previously abandoned, laughing at her panicked expression. "No, no it's not like that."

From her seat on the bench, Elizabeth playfully glared at him while swatting at his arm in an equally playful manner. "Thank you for the unnecessary heart attack then. Honestly, Ben, what's going on?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but shut it again quickly and began pacing in front of her. This continued for a minute or two before Elizabeth couldn't stand it any longer.

"Benjamin Gates, I swear to God if you don't tell me what is going on soon I'l-"

"I know where Charlotte is!" he burst throwing his hands in the air in a very un-Ben fashion, making Elizabeth's doe-like expression return.

"W-what?" she stuttered in shock.

"She's in the Arctic. I'm leaving on the expedition in two days and…and I could use your help."

"Ben…I'm not sure. What about my class?"

"Substitute. Come on, Liz, I need you. I can't do this without you," he said, kneeling in front of his 'little sister'.

Elizabeth laughed loudly in response, slightly getting over her shock. "You don't need me. You could easily do this without me."

"Doesn't mean I want to."

She shot him a suspicious glance with her arms crossed over her chest once again. "Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?"

Ben chuckled lightly before straightening up. "You know how I get about this treasure and earning my family's respect back. Besides, Liz, you know you're going to crack and come against your better judgment."

Elizabeth glared up at her friend's tall figure through her eyelashes before finally sighing in frustrated defeat. "You know me too well, Ben." She stood up hearing the bell signaling the end of recess. "Call me tonight. Now if you will excuse me, I have a class to tend to."

With that she entered the school building followed by a bumbling bunch of talkative first graders while leaving behind grinning, triumphant twenty-seven year old to fade away into the growing shadows of that cloudy afternoon in Washington D.C.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Bright and early the next morning, the clock barely striking four, a group of men stood impatiently inside a private jet hanger awaiting the arrival of their final member, a mysterious stranger only known by one member of the team.

"Ben, where is the person you insisted was important to our little adventure?" the leader with shoulder-length shaggy blonde hair asked, frustration distorting his typically charming features. "You know how I hate to be kept waiting."

"I know, Ian. I know. Just let me give my friend a call," Ben said, letting his seemingly emotionless mask crack for a moment as he ran a hand nervously through his hair before pulling out his phone and typing in a number he knew by heart. However, before he could hit the call button, the hanger echoed with the sound of a vehicle crunching the gravel in the parking lot outside as it pulled into it. "Speak of the devil," Ben couldn't help but say with a say of relief as he recognized the old beat-up truck outside.

Opening the door, Elizabeth poked her head out and waved been over, choosing to ignore the visibly dropped jaws of the men that were surrounding her friend.

"You're late, Liz," Ban stated as he walked up to her truck, plucking two backpacks out of the bed as he passed it.

"I know, I know. Sorry, I had some last minute paperwork I had to drop off, but since the office doesn't open for another hour and a half, I had to take it over to Debra's which if you must know is on the complete opposite of town. She says hi by the way," Elizabeth explained in a rush as she hopped down to the ground from the driver's seat. Suddenly remembering something, she reached back in, pulling out two black sealed mugs. "Hazelnut, no cream, no sugar," she said, giving a muck curtsey as she offered her friend one of the mugs.

"Ah, I knew there was a reason I kept you around," Ben teased with a small smile as he exchanged one of her bags for the mug.

"Oh, hush you," Elizabeth exclaimed, playfully bumping his shoulder with hers as they made their way into the hanger together.

By this point the rest of the expedition team had been able to get over their shock and pick up their jaws, well all but one that is. One man couldn't help but remain slack-jawed as stared through his glasses at the woman with her dark red locks pulled up into a high pony-tail as she freely joked with the typically serious historian who kept his arm locked around her shoulders as a warning to any man that tried to come up to her. The man continued to stare at her until a sudden shove made his stumble forwards, disrupting his trance.

"If you don't get your ass on that plane right now, I swear to God we are leaving you behind, Riley," Shaw, one of Ian's musclemen, threatened as he loaded the last of the expedition gear onto the plane.

"You wouldn't dare," Riley declared, uncertainty shining in his narrowed as he attempted to glare at the bigger man. He didn't like taking orders from his boss at work, so why would he be willing to take orders from a muscle head like Shaw?

"You're right, but if aren't on the plane by the time count to five I'm more than willing to toss your precious little laptop out the door as we fly over the ocean."

"You need to have it before you can throw it overboard," the computer enthusiast said smugly, holding his laptop bad a little closer to his side.

"You mean like this?" the muscle man asked with fake innocence, pulling a familiar laptop out from behind him.

Riley's jaw dropped in shock for the second time in the last hour at the sight before him as the smirking man waved the laptop around, tossing it carelessly hand from hand. "How did you get that!" he demanded, not asked.

"Oh, the things you can take while a guy drools over a girl way out of his league," Shaw taunted with a momentary smirk before switching back to his serious yet angered glare and growled out his final demand. "Get. On. The. Plane. Now."

That was all it took to send Riley flying forward, snatching his laptop from Shaw's large hand before running up the plane's stairs.

It seemed the moment the pilot cleared movement in the plane, Ian was up out of his seat and strutting hid way over to Elizabeth, who sat on Ben's left reading a book.

"Ian Howe," he announced, his naturally cocky attitude shining through as he offered her his hand. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Elizabeth sat there staring with dull, bored eyes at him for a moment before a light bulb flashed inside her head, warming her expression as she smiled slightly. "Oh, you're Ian! Ben told me how you graciously donated the money for this expedition. Thank you for that, it means a lot to both of us," she said, shaking his hand.

"Not a problem, love. I was happy to do it," Ian said with a large smile, bringing her hand up to his lips so he could kiss her knuckles. "I'd do anything to help such a beautiful lady like yourself."

"You don't even know my name, honey," Elizabeth stated, her grateful smile changing into a playful one (with a slight undertone of weariness and unease that only Ben seemed to notice which caused his grip on her hand to become slightly tighter).

"May I guess?"

"Have at it," she said with a shrug.

"How about Angel? Because you must have been sent straight from heaven though I will never understand why God would be willing to let go of his most beautiful and precious angel," Ian said with sickening sweetness as he gave Elizabeth a large smug smile, clearly praising himself for his 'flattering' answer.

"Cute, but no."

"Ian," Ben jumped in, giving the blonde benefactor a hard stare as he gripped his friend's small pale hand tighter while still reading his book on the Arctic. "This is my best friend Elizabeth Knight."

"Ah, Elizabeth. A fitting name."

"How so?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow. She had an eerie feeling that she already knew the answer he would give.

"It's only fitting that a lovely woman, such as yourself, have a lovely name to match," Ian explained, flashing her a seemingly charming smile that held and hide so much more than it gave away.

"Oh, you're a charming little devil, aren't you?" Elizabeth asked, her smile growing slightly to accommodate her unease. "Too bad charming little devils such as yourself are not my type."

Ian's smile dropped momentarily before he forced a smile that was noticeably darker to his lips as Ben hid his small amused smile behind his book and Riley stifled his laughter that dared to escape and his smug smile by busying himself with his laptop from his spot on the other side of Ben. "Excuse me," Ian said after an awkward momentary silence. "But I must go check in with our pilot. I _**will**_ talk to you later, Elizabeth."

The trio sat there watching as the blonde man walked away, waiting until he left the room to speech.

"Well, that was thoroughly creepy. I don't think I trust him," Elizabeth claimed leaning against her best friend for reassurance.

"I don't think anyone does," Riley snicker, surprising both himself and Elizabeth with his reply.

"I wouldn't know," Elizabeth countered with a smile. "I didn't catch your name."

"We-well…I uh… I'm um…"

"That's Riley Poole," Ben said from in between the two as he rolled his eyes in annoyance. "He's a genius with a computer. Riley, this is Elizabeth. She's a genius with…well everything else."

Elizabeth hit Ben lightly. "Shush Ben, that's not true." She then reached over and held her hand out for Riley to shake. "I'm an expert in the human mind and behavior as well as history, mythology, and conspiracy. It's a pleasure to meet you, Riley."

"A pleasure," he muttered in agreement lost in the depths her blue eyes and the feeling of her soft pale hand in his.


	4. Author's Note

Family drama and health issues have drained me for a bit and I just cannot get the energy to write. I get bits and pieces, but the most I seem to be able to do is about a paragraph at a time. I really am sorry guys. Just give me a little more time and I will have something up for you whether it is a real chapter or a sneak peek (hopefully the first one). I do feel really bad about this because I don't even have to energy to write personal messages for each of my stories. I hope you can forgive me. Within a month you will have more from me.  
Love,  
Angel


End file.
